anÁlisis de guiÓn de raiders

7/27/2019 ANLISIS DE GUIN DE RAIDERS

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TITLE:

SUB:

FORMAT:

LENGTH:

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Ark of the Covenant

Screenplay

80 pages

AUTHOR: Lawrence Kasdan

SUB TO:

READER: Glenn Bossik DATE:

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LOG LINE: On behalf of the United States Government, Archaeologist Indiana Jones

goes on a quest to find and prevent Hitler's Nazi soldiers from obtaining the Lost Ark of

the Covenant, an ancient artifact that is said to possess the power of God.

______________________________________________________________________

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SYNOPSIS:

In a Peruvian jungle in 1930, Archaeologist Indiana Jones and his Peruvian assistant

Satipo enter a cave that is used as a temple. Indiana steals a small, golden statue deep

inside the temple and dodges booby traps there, barely escaping alive.

Outside, in the jungle, he runs from his adversary, the French archaeologist, Belloq, andescapes by plane.

Later, at a college in the United States where Indy teaches archaeology classes, his

colleague, Marcus Brody, arranges for him to meet with Army Intelligence Officers

Eaton and Musgrove--men who have questions about the information in an intercepted

Nazi communiqu. Indy tells them that it indicates Hitler's desire to find the Lost Ark of

the Covenant, an ancient chest that is said to possess the power of God.

That night, Marcus tells Indy: "They [Eaton and Musgrove] want you to get a hold of

the Ark before the Nazis do"

The next day, Indy travels by plane to Nepal. There, he visits the saloon of Marion


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Ravenwood, the daughter of his archaeology teacher, Abner, a man who possessed an

artifact that could be used to find the Ark: the headpiece of the Staff of Ra.

Indy stops a group of Nazis from taking the headpiece from Marion and leaves Nepal

with her, traveling by plane to Cairo, Egypt.

In Cairo, Indy meets with his friend, Sallah, a skilled digger who has been hired by the

Nazis to find the Ark of the Covenant. Indy asks him for help in deciphering the

markings on the headpiece of the Staff of Ra. Sallah says he knows someone who can

do that.

Later, in a "busy Cairo street," Indy and Marion are pursued by German agents and their

Arabic cohorts. Indy fights the Germans and Arabs off, but Marion is abducted by them

and possibly killed in a truck explosion.

Shortly thereafter, in an Arab bar, Belloq approaches Indy and tries to recruit him for

the excavation of the Lost Ark. Indy refuses the offer and is escorted to safety bySallah's children.

That night, at the house of Imam, an interpreter of ancient artifacts, Imam deciphers the

markings on the headpiece of the Staff of Ra, showing Indy how long a staff to use with

the headpiece when trying to locate the Ark.

The next day, at an excavation site in Tanis, Egypt, where the Nazis are digging, Indy

enters a newly uncovered ancient map room and uses the staff and headpiece in

conjunction with a beam of sunlight to find the location of the Ark.

Later, while disguised in an Arabic robe, Indy sneaks past the Nazis into a tent and finds

Marion there. She's been tied up and is being held hostage. To escape detection by the

Nazis, Indy leaves her there.

Shortly thereafter, at dusk, Indy and Sallah dig up the entrance hole to the Well of the

Souls, a snake-filled underground chamber that is the resting place of the Ark of the

Covenant. Sallah helps him remove the Ark from the chamber, but the Nazis see this

being done and imprison Indy in the chamber, throwing Marion inside before sealing

the entrance with a stone cover.

Indy uses giant statues to crush the back walls of the chamber, enabling him and Marionto escape.

Outside, he stops a group of Nazis from using a plane to take the Ark from Egypt. He

then stops another group of Nazis from using a truck to ship the Ark. He seizes their

truck and transports the Ark to a ship, which then leaves the port.

The next day, the Nazis seize control of the ship and capture Marion. They load the Ark

onto a submarine, taking Marion with them. But, Indy secretly hitches a ride on the

submarine, traveling to a nearby desert island that serves as a Nazi supply base.

On the island, Indy threatens to blow up the Ark with a bazooka, but Belloq persuadeshim not to do so. As a result, Indy and Marion are tied up by the Nazis near an altar


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prepared by Belloq for use in a ceremony involving the opening of the Ark.

During the ceremony, Indy and Marion shut their eyes to avoid looking at the uncovered

Ark.

Belloq opens the Ark, releasing the Angel of Death, which kills him and the Nazisoldiers standing nearby.

The next day, in Washington, D.C., Army Intelligence Officers Eaton and Musgrove tell

Indy and Marcus that the Ark is being studied by experts in a secret location. Indy won't

be allowed access to the Ark.

In the closing scene, we see the crated Ark being wheeled down a long isle in a giant

warehouse filled with thousands of numbered crates marked 'Top Secret."

COMMENTS:

Raiders of the Lost Ark uses the style of serial adventure films known as cliffhangers.

This style involves a hero being imperiled by a dangerous situation, and then avoiding

certain death and saving his girlfriend from a similar fate by finding an ingenious

method of escape. The author of Raiders uses these techniques but unifies them by

making individual cliffhanger sequences part of the hero's single-minded quest for the

Ark of the Covenant.

The character of Indiana Jones is well-defined because we see that he wants to emulate

the career of his mentor, Archaeologist Abner Ravenwood. Just as Abner sought out the

Lost Ark, so too does Indy seek it. The author further defines the character of Indy by

showing that the love relationship between Indy and Abner's daughter, Marion, creates

conflicts for all the characters and is part of the quest for the Ark.

The dialogue supplements the visuals by providing us with background information we

wouldn't effectively get from observation. For example, when Indy meets with the

Army Intelligence officers, he tells them about the history of the Ark of the Covenant.

Showingthis history with visual imagery would have unnecessarily extended the length

of the scene and slowed down the pace of the story. So, the author made the right choice

in giving us information through dialogue in this scene.

The plot is tight and dramatic. It uses the best elements of Greek tragedies, such as theidea of the chorus and the curse. For instance, the story depicts several different

characters acting as members of a chorus, commenting on the actions of the hero, Indy.

These comments involve their mentioning a curse in which anyone who seeks the Ark

may be killed by its God-like powers.

The story is fast-paced, using the structure of cliffhangers to keep the audience

captivated and on edge.

The resolution is brilliant. It shows that the pattern of events leading to the

disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant in ancient times has repeated itself in modern

times, resulting in the sacred object being hidden away in a warehouse, once againbecoming the Lost Ark of the Covenant.


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RECOMMENDED FOR PRODUCTION

Raiders of the Lost Ark: An AnalysisScreenplay by: Lawrence Kasdan

Story by: George Lucas and Philip Kaufman

By Glenn Bossik

Lawrence Kasdan's screenplay of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

(http://www.indianajones.com ) uses a hybrid form of storytelling that combines the

cliffhanger style of serial adventure films with the primary storytelling component of

Greek mythology, the curse.

Serial films are composed of several parts, each part shown on a separate day and

ending in a cliffhanger, a dangerous situation that could kill the hero if he can't escape.

In the beginning of the next part of the serial, he escapes.

In Greek mythology, the hero is doomed to repeat a dangerous pattern of behavior as a

result of a curse invoked by the gods.

In "Raiders," the hero, Archaeologist Indiana Jones, gets into numerous cliffhanger-

style escape and rescue situations while fighting with Nazi soldiers for possession of the

Ark of the Covenant, an ancient chest that contains the Ten Commandments and is said

to be cursed with deadly, God-like powers.

The cliffhangers Indy must endure result from a curse that fills men with greed, making

them fight with each other to possess the power of the Ark. For example, in Act I, Indy

and his colleague, Marcus, meet with two Army Intelligence officers and tell them that

in ancient times, the Egyptians invaded Jerusalem and took the Ark from the Hebrews.

Indy re-enacts this same dangerous, greedy pattern of behavior by fighting Hitler's Nazi

soldiers for the Ark.

Each time Indy fights with the Nazis during his quest for the Ark, he is forced to escape

from death at their hands and rescue his lover, Marion, daughter of his mentor,

Archaeologist Abner Ravenwood.

The fights resemble serial adventure films and help develop the character of Indy andMarion.

Every time Indy endangers himself to save Marion, we get to re-experience those

adventure films and learn more about Indy's turbulent relationship with her.

When he travels to Marion's saloon in Nepal, she is angry that he ended their

relationship because of her father, Abner, the man who taught Indy about archaeology.

Initially, she refuses to give him her father's artifact, the headpiece of the Staff of Ra, a

medallion needed to find the location of the Lost Ark. But, when several Nazi soldiers

grab her and threaten to kill her for it, Indy rescues her, putting himself in peril. He

must then escape from the soldiers, who hold him at gunpoint.
http://www.indianajones.com/http://www.indianajones.com/


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When he succeeds, Marion agrees to give him the headpiece and become his partner in

the search for the Ark.

This partnership results in Marion constantly being put in harm's way and Indy

constantly having to risk his life to rescue her. So, each time they must perform another

task that will help them find the Ark, they encounter obstacles that are depicted as serialadventures.

In "Raiders," the dialogue supplements the visuals in these adventures and maintains the

fast pace of the story, quickly providing us with information that would take too long to

show visually. For instance, after leaving Marion's saloon in Nepal, Indy and Marion

travel to Cairo, Egypt, and meet with Indy's friend, Sallah.

The ensuing discussion between Indy and Sallah reveals that the Nazis have been

excavating a nearby location in Egypt and have found the map room, an underground

chamber where the headpiece of the Staff of Ra is used to find the location of the Ark.

So, we aren't shown the discovery of the map room. We are told about it instead. For

that reason, the fast pace of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is maintained and the plot moves

forward effortlessly.

The plot of "Raiders" shows that in a well-written screenplay, character and story

structure can be combined. In Act III, this combination is exemplified by a scene in

which Indy threatens to blow up the Ark if Marion is not set free by Belloq, a French

archaeologist who helped the Nazis find the Ark and took her as his hostage.

At the end of the scene, Indy surrenders to the Nazis rather than destroy an

archaeological treasure he has wanted to find for his entire career. This surrender

reveals his primary character flaw--greed--and results in Indy and Marion being

captured by the Nazis and being tied to a pole facing Belloq, who is about to open the

deadly Ark.

Once again, Indy must escape certain death and bring Marion to safety. He is involved

in yet another cliffhanger, an element of story structure linked to his character flaw,

greed.

The cliffhanger becomes part of the climax of the story, a climax in which Indy saves

Marion from death by telling her to close her eyes when Belloq opens the Ark for theNazi soldiers standing in front of him. The Angel of Death flies out of the open Ark and

destroys Belloq and the soldiers with fire and bolts of lightening.

The resolution of "Raiders" defines the theme of the story. The theme is that greedy

men won't be allowed to possess the Ark, an object cursed by the deadly power of God

and much too powerful for any man to possess indefinitely.

Indiana Jones's quest for the Ark is resolved when two Army Intelligence officers who

sent him on that quest inform him that he will no longer have access to the Ark. They

have sent the Ark to a huge U.S. Government warehouse in a nondescript crate and

buried that crate amongst thousands of other similar crates.


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